


Bruises

by LibraryMage



Series: Whumptober 2018 [6]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 03:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16421747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibraryMage/pseuds/LibraryMage
Summary: Ezra sees the aftermath of his mother's interrogation.





	Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an AU where Ezra was imprisoned along with his parents. At this point, he's still seven years old and has only been in prison for a month.

Ezra flinched as the door opened, his arms drawing tighter around his legs as he pressed himself back into the corner of the bunk that he was curled up in.  His heart pounded as he wondered if it was his turn now.  They’d taken his parents out of the cell hours ago, leaving Ezra alone, terrified that they wouldn’t come back or that the stormtroopers would come for him next.

Ezra looked up at the dull  _thud_  of someone falling to the ground.  His mother was crumpled in a heap where she’d been thrown to the floor by the guards.  As the door closed again, Ezra quickly slid off of the bed and dropped to the floor beside her.

“Mom?” he asked, his voice shaking as he nudged her shoulder.

Slowly, his mother pushed herself off the floor so she was sitting up beside him, shaking with the effort.  Ezra gasped when he looked up at her and saw her face.  It was covered in bruises, and her lower lip had split open, a slow trickle of blood running from the wound.

“It’s okay,” she said.  “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

She reached for him, only to gasp in pain, one hand flying to her stomach.  For a moment, she stayed perfectly still, her eyes glistening with suppressed tears, her teeth gritted against the pain Ezra knew she was feeling, even though she was trying to hide it.

Moving slower this time, she reached for him again, putting her arm around his shoulders and pulling him against her side. Ezra stiffened up, going perfectly still, afraid to move and hurt her by accident.

“What did they do?” Ezra asked, his voice shaking as tears welled up in his eyes.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” his mother said, her other hand gently caressing his face.

Ezra tried, but he couldn’t hold back a quiet sob. How was he supposed to not worry?   He wasn’t stupid.  They’d only been here a month and he’d already seen people beaten, electrocuted with shock prods, dragged away never to be seen again. He knew the stormtroopers had been hurting his mom, and she was telling him not to worry.

“Wh–where’s Dad?” he asked, his voice shaking as he realized that whatever had happened to his mother was probably happening to his father, too.

“I don’t know,” his mother said, her arm tightening around his shoulders.  Her voice was steady, but Ezra  _knew_  she was terrified, even more than he was, and hiding it.  “They separated us.”

Ezra let out a small, frightened  _hum_  as he finally let himself put his arms around his mom’s middle, trying not to hug her too tightly.

“It’ll be okay, love,” his mother said, gently kissing the top of his head.  “I promise, we’ll be okay.”

She was lying.  Ezra knew she was lying.  In this place, there was no way she could keep that promise.


End file.
